MORRUM

A stirring paean to salmon fishing. In Swedish, but the gorgeous images will tell you everything you need to know.

MÖRRUM from MAYFLY on Vimeo.
Salmon fishing with a two handed rod is big fun! Especially in Sweden.
The river „Mörrumsån" is one of the best rivers in southern Sweden.
In our latest movie we met Karl Heinz Kleine aka "KHK" in his cottage in Mörrum.
He told us stories about this beautiful place on earth.
Come with us, come to Mörrum!

This Is Fly, No. 62

Right HERE.

"Dead Horse" by Thomas Lux

At the fence line, I was about to call him in when,

at two-thirds profile, head low

and away from me, he fell first

to his right front knee

and then the left, and he was down,

dead before he hit the...

My father saw him drop, too,

and a neighbor, who walked over.

He was a good horse, old,

spavined, eating grass during the day

and his oats and hay

at night. He didn't mind, or try to boss, the cows

with which he shared these acres.

My father said: Happens. Our neighbor,

named Malcolm, walked back to his place

and was soon grinding toward us

with his tractor's new backhoe,

of which he was proud

but so far used only to dig two sump holes.

It was the knacker who'd haul away a cow.

A horse, a good horse, you buried

where he, or she, fell. Malcolm

cut a trench beside the horse

and we pushed him in.

I'd already said goodbye

before I tried to close his eyes.

Our neighbor returned the dirt

from where it came. In it: stones,

stones never seen before

by a human's, nor even a worm's, eye.

With the back of a shovel

we tamped the dirt down.

One dumb cow

stood by. It was a Friday.

For supper we ate hot dogs, with beans

on buttered white bread. Every Friday,

hot dogs and beans.

"Dead Horse" by Thomas Lux, from Child Made of Sand. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.

"Foundations"

Keeping it open, passing it on.

"Foundations" Official Selection IF4 2016 from Shane Scherholz on Vimeo.

Nature's Lament

Nature's Lament from Aaron Keigher on Vimeo.
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein

Humans have been encroaching upon nature since the beginning of our existence. However, a recent rash of vandalism, overcrowding and outright stupidity in our parks and natural areas have caused senseless and permanent damage to some of our most beautiful locations. Vandals have graffitied places like Bonsai Rock in Lake Tahoe, a woman calling herself an artist painted on rocks in Death Valley, Zion, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain, Colorado, Canyonlands and Crater Lake National Parks and “adventurers” decided to walk out on the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring in Yellowstone National Park to get the perfect pictures and videos for their YouTube and Instagram accounts and the same group of people decided it was a good idea to water ski from the back of their RV while driving across a flooded Bonneville Salt Flats. Other people have knocked down rock formations in Fantasy Canyon and Goblin Valley in Utah and recently in Cape Kiwanda in Oregon.

This recent rash of vandalism coincides with ever increasing crowds venturing further and further into nature. Close encounters with animals in Yellowstone are now a common occurrence, places in Yosemite are constantly packed with visitors, recent pictures have been posted online of a packed Oneonta Gorge in Oregon and videos of Antelope Canyon packed with visitors like it was Disneyland. While most people who visit our parks and natural areas treat them with the care and respect they deserve, we must ask the question: what will be the end result of the ever increasing encroachment of humans back into nature?

This time-lapse is Nature's song of lament. As human encroachment grows, nature cries out in sadness, pain and anger. In the film, as we see more evidence of our effects on nature, the feel of the emotion and tenure of the video changes to reflect our ever growing presence.

I hope you will take a few minutes to watch the film and think about the important question: Will we be the cause of Nature's Lament?

Locations in this film include:
Ancient Bristlecone National Forest, CA
Alabama Hills, CA
Arches National Park, CA
Big Sur, CA
Bryce Canyon, UT
Canyonlands National Park, UT
Coal Mine Canyon, AZ
Joshua Tree National Park, CA
Malibu Canyon, CA
Owens Valley Radio Observatory, CA
Red Rock Canyon, CA
Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm, CA
Yosemite National Park, CA

Public Lands Enemies

From the Center for Biological Diversity. Learn more HERE.

Behind the Emerald Curtain

Behind the Emerald Curtain from Pacific Rivers on Vimeo.
Behind the Emerald Curtain exposes the harmful practices occurring on Oregon's private timberlands under the Oregon Forest Practices Act: streams logged right through with no buffers; landslides from logging on steep slopes; pesticides sprayed from helicopters, drifting into homes and clinics and poisoning forest workers. Come take a peek Behind the Emerald Curtain.

The Lake Is Waking Up

I got back to Yellowwood the day after my modest beginning. The fishermen are emerging in higher numbers, and I found more fish ready to take a streamer. The lake is waking up. I'll be heading back as soon as we get this current cold spell in the rearview mirror.

A Modest Beginning

As I write this it's snowing outside, and we're looking at a whole week with high temps in the 30's. We haven't seen snow since January, and we've been having high temps in the 60's, so we're a little disappointed in the turn in the weather. I know it has been much worse in much of the country, and that the northeast is bracing now for a major snow event, so I'm not going to complain.

Instead I'm just going to pause and remember a little fishing trip last week. It was a sunny day and the temperature was pushing 70. The creeks were flowing after two days of rain which made for a fun drive in my new truck.

There was a fresh spring wind blowing, but one of the things I like about the tube is that it can handle the wind.

I was throwing the big white conehead streamer I found at the Brookville tailwater.

I worked the shoreline with a fast strip. I've done that in previous trips, with no success, but this time I suddenly hooked up. It's a spring take: no bump or hit, just the realization, from one strip to the next, that there's resistance on the line. It wasn't a big fish, but I got it up close enough to see that it was a bass before it flipped off and disappeared back into the depths.

Eureka. This was the first evidence I had seen at this lake of the existence of bass, and it's amazing how much my attitude improved. I crossed over and began working the other shoreline with renewed enthusiasm.

I got another hook up. Again no hit, just a sudden realization that the line was veering off to the side. I once again felt that lovely pull, but the fish came off before I could get a glimpse of it.

I watched for more signs of spring. We've had a few turkey vultures around all winter, but I noticed that they were back in force.

I came to the dam and had a third hookup, again short lived. I was beginning to suspect operator error, and resolved to increase my focus.

Then, as I reached the other side of the spillway, I once again found a fish on the end of the line. This one pulled harder, and I concentrated on keeping the line tight, and this time I got it close enough to get my thumb in its mouth: the first fish--and first bass--of 2017.

A modest beginning, but a beginning nonetheless.

Know Your Enemy

These are the names of prominent persons in the fly fishing industry who have signed on to a letter demanding that Scott Pruitt resign as head of the Environmental Protection Agency:

Todd Tanner
Yvon Chouinard
Ted Williams
Craig & Jackie Mathews
Kirk Deeter
Greg Thomas
Tim Romano
Hilary Hutcheson
Chad Brown
Marshall Cutchin
Tom Bie
Phil Monahan
Brandon Shuler
Tim & Joanne Linehan
Wade Fellin
Bill Klyn
Steve Zakur
Chris Madson
Mike Sepelak
Chad Love
Marc Payne
John Arnold
Brian Bennett
Paul Moinester
Terry Gibson
Tim Harden
Earl Harper
Matthew Reilly
Tom Davis
Seamus McGraw
Erin Block
Tom Sadler
Johnny Carrol Sain
Pat Clayton
Dylan Tomine
Chad Shmukler

Add my name in BIG LETTERS.

For the full text of the letter at Hatch Magazine click HERE.